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[Sticky] Your first gig - tell us!

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(@chrisc)
Posts: 18
Eminent Member
 

My first gig was in my company cafeteria at lunchtime. I had my first open mic that evening after work, and nervous as I was, I wanted to warm up in front of actual people -- visualizing an audience as you play to a blank wall only gets you so far. :P So, I walk into the cafeteria to an unsuspecting "audience" of about 15 coworkers. I nervously explained my desire to warm up, and they let me play. I had a repertoire of exactly two songs: "Hootchie Kootchie Man" and "Nickel Song" by Melanie, so the set was real short. I tell you, I was plenty nervous, and I could tell I was playing stiff and singing a bit soft. However, I did finish both songs without stopping at all or screwing up real bad, so I consider it a win nonetheless. :) Well, that night at the open mic, I was able to practice a little by myself by the back door of the coffee house before actually going up, which I'm happy to say made a world of difference!!!! So I guess one needs to warm up by himself before warming up in front of others?????

 
Posted : 10/04/2009 1:31 am
(@corbind)
Posts: 1735
Noble Member
 

Great you played! That is a wonderful experience for you. :D

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."

 
Posted : 10/04/2009 6:33 am
(@chrisc)
Posts: 18
Eminent Member
 

Thanks for the encouragement!

 
Posted : 13/04/2009 11:30 pm
 cnev
(@cnev)
Posts: 4459
Famed Member
 

Chris!, so where abouts are you in CT? I'm in the Hartford area

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!

 
Posted : 14/04/2009 3:47 pm
(@danlasley)
Posts: 2118
Noble Member
 

Chris!, so where abouts are you in CT? I'm in the Hartford area

and can you sing...? :lol:

 
Posted : 14/04/2009 4:03 pm
 cnev
(@cnev)
Posts: 4459
Famed Member
 

and play lead guitar

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!

 
Posted : 14/04/2009 4:49 pm
 cnev
(@cnev)
Posts: 4459
Famed Member
 

Looks like I can finally make a post on this thread I finally made the plunge and played at an open mic last night.

Since I am not a solo performer I played with a couple people I met there and the drummer from our band. We did three or four songs, Sunshine of your Love (man I'm sick of that song), Beere Drinkers/Hellraisers and Rock n Roll Ain't Noise Pollution and a couple of 12 bar blues jams.

Not really alot to say. I wasn't really nervous at all. maybe because it wasn't a big crowd I'm not sure but I wasn't and I tend to be the nervous type so that was strange.

Sunshine went well, but that's hard to mess that one up. Beer drinkers/Hellraisers was OK. I didn't really screw up but I didn't like my sound and they kept telling me to turn down so I kind of lost my focus a bit.

Rock n Roll ain't noise Pollution was good until the drummer who was singing it stopped near the end of the songs and said he couldn't sing it anymore.

Of course there were people that played that made me want to put the quitar back in my case and quit but hey I expected that.

There was a guy that I had met several years ago that I had heard was a good guitar player, but he was like incredibly good. He was played some really difficult Jeff Beck stuff that blew everyone away.

And there was a younger guy in his twenties that loves Neil Young and knows every one of his songs. He played/sang and played harmonica while his buddy played bass. man this kid could sing. Absolutely incredible voice. At the end of the night he played again this time a bunch of Bowie stuff who I love so I have to brush up on some Bowie songs to play with him.

All in all a good night. I can't say i was overly jacked up afterwords though. It just seemed like a practice.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!

 
Posted : 15/04/2009 1:35 pm
(@corbind)
Posts: 1735
Noble Member
 

Excellent! Glad you too the "plunge." Do you think you'll do some more? :?:

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."

 
Posted : 16/04/2009 7:20 am
 cnev
(@cnev)
Posts: 4459
Famed Member
 

Actually if things work out the way we are planning yes the whole band( the lead guitarist keeps quitting and coming back so you never know)is going to play 4-5 songs this Saturday at an open mic run by one of our friends and then we are going to the Tuesday night open mic and play a few more songs.

The plan is since we don't quite have enough songs for a real gig at a bar yet will keep using these open mics to help perfect or stage presecnce and all the other learning curve things we need to do.

The nice thing about both the open mics is that we know the people running them and at least on Tuesday's we can play for probably an hour so. It'll be good practice for us.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!

 
Posted : 16/04/2009 11:40 am
(@singingonline123)
Posts: 16
Eminent Member
 

Well, my first gig was at school i watched live band, i am not a band member I'm just an audience there but anyway it's still my first gig.

 
Posted : 29/05/2009 5:22 am
(@corbind)
Posts: 1735
Noble Member
 

Chris, do you normally play rhythm or lead guitar with other folks?

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."

 
Posted : 29/05/2009 7:05 am
 cnev
(@cnev)
Posts: 4459
Famed Member
 

me Dennis? I normally play rhythm in the band since the other guitar player is much more experienced and better than me. He' sbeen playing all his life and he can tear it up. But we have a few songs were we do some harmony stuff, solo's, intro's etc. and there are a couple songs that I do solos on but 90% are done by him and I'll play rhythm.

In a way for me this is good. if I was the lead guitarist we'd sux and this way it gives a chance to get my rhythms solid and I can work on some of the solo's on the side.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!

 
Posted : 29/05/2009 11:11 am
(@jwmartin)
Posts: 1435
Noble Member
 

Well, we finally had our first real gig last night. We played 2nd out of 5 bands at a club in Nashville called The End. 2nd turned out to be a really good spot, we played when the largest crowd was there. There were between 50-75 people while we played. The crowd reacted well to our stuff. We played 8 originals and 1 cover. A few minor screwups, but nothing too noticeable. I was a little nervous right before we went on, but that disappeared after about 30 seconds. The greatest moment of the night was when I looked up during our last song (an original), which has a sing a long kind of break in it and I saw the girl who sang for the group that played before us singing along out in the crowd.

My bass was a little too high in the mix, but I loved the tone I got from my new rig.

Here's a song from the show. This is an original called Murder Motel, which is based on "Psycho." That's why the singer dedicated it to all the mothers. :D

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7726888

Bass player for Undercover

 
Posted : 18/06/2009 8:04 pm
(@corbind)
Posts: 1735
Noble Member
 

I really like that song!

"Nothing...can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts."

 
Posted : 18/06/2009 8:31 pm
(@vic-lewis-vl)
Posts: 10264
Illustrious Member
 

Good for you, JWMartin! Band sounded tight, liked the lead guitar - but all I could hear, for the most part, was the drums - waaaaaaay too high in the mix. Might just be my tiny laptop speakers.

Hey, you've done the hard part - first gig's out of the way. You will NEVER be as nervous again!

Congrats, mate!

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)

 
Posted : 18/06/2009 9:50 pm
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